The United States Supreme Court moments ago handed down a ruling on whether Arizona's controversial "breathing while brown" immigration law violates the Constitution.

Details of the Court's decision are unclear at the moment -- it literally just happened a few minutes ago -- but according various media reports, the court ruled 5-3 to uphold the most controversial portion of the law, which allows the state to check the immigration status of anyone stopped by police if there's "reasonable suspicion" that the person is in the country illegally. In other words, it gives local cops the power to act as immigration officers, despite the fact that immigration enforcement is currently the responsibility of the federal government -- regardless of whether the feds actually enforce it.

The case quickly became a state's rights issue, which is what landed it in the Supreme Court.

The law started an international firestorm, with those opposed to it
claiming that it's racist because it gives cops the power to unlawfully
stop Hispanics.

At the time of its passage, we were working for the Voice's sister paper
in Phoenix, and had a front-row seat for the fallout, which included
thousands upon thousands of immigration activists storming the state in
protest of the "racist" law.

Following the bill's passage, several immigration activists -- including
Arizona Congressman Raul Grijalva -- declared a boycott of all things
Arizona. Grijalva, however -- after apparently realizing that calling
for a boycott of his own state isn't the best move -- withdrew his
support of the boycott.

The two-sided nature of the Court's decision is likely to spark more protests from immigration
activists, as well as reignite the debate over whether state's
have the right to go over the head of the feds when it comes to
immigration enforcement -- so you can look forward to Arizona's resident ding-bat, Governor Jan Brewer, appearing on all the national news talk shows over the next few days.

We'll add to this post as more details of the Court's ruling become available. Check back for updates. Meantime, click here to watch our favorite "Jan Brewer moment" -- and keep in mind that this woman is in charge of an entire state (sigh).